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August 20, 1998

Stocks Slip

The stock market ended on a down note Wednesday, as the Dow Jones industrials lost a fight to extend a two-day rally that had made up about a third of the ground lost in a monthlong slide from record highs.

The Dow closed down 21.37, at 8,693.28, after bouncing between negative and positive territory all day.

Broad market indexes, which were mixed all day, ended lower as well, after a negative earnings projection by LSI Logic Corp. outweighed a positive earnings report from Dell Computer Corp.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 7-to-5 margin. Composite volume was 779.86 million shares, compared with 828.87 million shares Tuesday.

The Dow had gained 290 points on Monday and Tuesday after sliding to 8,425 last week -- a 900-point drop from the record of 9,337.97 set just four weeks earlier, on July 17.

Microsoft Ruling

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court ruling will effectively prevent the public and press from watching the government's questioning of Microsoft's billionaire chairman and 16 other executives.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided Wednesday to let the pretrial interviews move forward immediately, but delayed for almost six more weeks a decision whether to allow the public to attend. That will come long after the antitrust trial itself is to have begun.

The appeals court said it will consider the issue after Sept. 29, three weeks after the trial date. The court's ruling said edited transcripts and videotapes of depositions taken before then can be released to the public.

The ruling means neither the public nor media representatives can attend pretrial depositions, denying them a seat during preparations for the extraordinary showdown between the government and the $14 billion software giant Microsoft, one of America's leading high-tech companies.

> Have You Heard?

Joseph LaValla's picture is hanging in the lobby of FoxIntegrity Graphics Inc. in Windsor, but not because he's president and chief executive of the 78-person business.

LaValla is salesman of the month.

He won the distinction fair and square, based on gross sales and a value-added formula. Well, he does have the largest account among the seven sales people, he admitted.

LaValla said he'll keep selling even with the recent merger between his old firm, Integrity Graphics Inc., and Fox Press Inc. ``It's how I keep in touch with reality,'' he said.

But the award brings no bonus. Hey, he already owns 36 percent of the business.